DE 199 63 597 A1 discloses a gear mechanism, in particular for wind power plants, composed of a drive-side planetary stage, downstream of which at least one gear mechanism stage is connected. The planetary gear mechanism if composed of at least two power-split planetary stages which are connected in parallel. A differential gear mechanism stage is connected downstream of the power-split planetary stages in order to sum the outflowing power of the two planetary stages.
From the generally known prior art, it is apparent that planetary stages in planetary gear mechanisms, in particular of wind power plants, are predominantly embodied with three or four planetary gear wheels. The sun gear is frequently arranged in a radially flexible fashion in the individual planetary stages, with the result that optimum load distribution between the planetary gear wheels is achieved. The planetary stages in wind power transmissions with four or more planetary gear wheels have until now been most widely embodied in a statically over-determined design, and the increase in the number of planetary gear wheels therefore entails high and uneconomic load increase factors.
Planetary gear mechanisms, in particular those with a differential stage, prove a potential for increasing the power density by increasing the number of planetary gear wheels from three to four or more planetary gear wheels. However, with the increase in number of planetary gear wheels, the influence of fabrication-related and assembly-related deviations of the machine elements on the increase in load in the tooth interventions increases. It is therefore necessary to design further load-balancing mechanisms.